A man falls on the ground following a drone attack in Kyiv
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)The centre of Kyiv was hit on Monday in a wave of Russian strikes from “kamikaze” drones, Ukrainian officials said.
The mayor Vitali Klitschko said the central Shevchenko district, a busy hub with universities, student bars and restaurants, had been hit, and urged residents to take shelter.
The Ukrainian capital reverberated to the rattle of gunfire as anti-aircraft batteries frantically tried to shoot the drones down.
Residential and non-residential buildings were hit and there were several fires.
Mr Klitschko said 18 people had been rescued at a residential building that had been hit but at least two people remain trapped under rubble. Railway officials said explosions were seen close to Kyiv’s main station.
Authorities were continuing to try and verify casualty figures from the attacks.
The strikes from the explosive-laden drones, that are destroyed on hitting their target and believed to be supplied by Iran, came a week after the capital was hit by Russian missiles at rush hour which left 19 dead.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier claimed there was no need for more large-scale strikes on Ukraine similar to those last week, that were in retaliation for the destruction of the Kerch bridge connecting the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula with Russia.
But Monday’s blasts confirmed what many fear could become more common attacks in urban centres away from the frontline.
The strikes began at around 6.30am local time and at least five blasts were reported, with one hitting around 8.10am, when many were making their way to work and school.
Explosions hit the same district where a week ago a missile struck a children’s playground and intersection near the Kyiv National University’s main buildings.
Responding to the attacks, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky said: “All night and all morning, the enemy terrorises the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. A residential building was hit in Kyiv. The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us. The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations. And we will get victory.”
A Reuters reporter saw pieces of a drone used in the attacks that bore the words: “For Belgorod.” The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod close to Ukraine’s border has accused Ukrainian forces of repeatedly shelling the region, and gunmen shot dead 11 people at a military training ground there on Saturday.
The fresh strikes came as fighting has intensified in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in recent days, as well as the continued Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south near Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
President Zelensky said on Sunday night in his evening address that there was heavy fighting around the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up the bulk of the industrial east known as the Donbas, and were two of four regions annexed by Russia in September in defiance of international law.
On Sunday, the Russian-backed regime in the Donetsk region said Ukraine had shelled its central administrative building in a direct hit.
